Inaugurated in December 2007, this plant was co-financed by the Fifth Financial Ital-Maltese Protocol. The plant originally was to cost 10.8 million, but with an investment of another two million Euros, this facility had its scope extended to accept a wide range of waste fractions for treatment. This incinerator, in fact, treats abattoir waste, clinical waste, refused derived fuel (RDF - which is waste that generates a large quantity of energy such as wood), and other waste like industrial sludges. At that time, this measure aimed to increase the efficiency of the operations while meeting all the national requirements with regards to thermal waste treatments.

This plant is in conformity with the strictest standards of emissions exceeding those established by the EU. The commissioning of this facility has made it possible to decommission the old non-compliant incinerators, including that at St Luke’s Hospital and at the Gozo General Hospital.

The incinerator is dependent upon the supply of electrical energy and diesel to be in a position to operate its high temperature furnace. This temperature is controlled by circulating cold water, which is then released as steam.

To further advance in its commitment to improve and modernize the infrastructure for waste management in our country, Wasteserv secured funds through the European Regional Development Fund to invest in the design, construction and installation of an environmentally friendly autoclave next to the Thermal Treatment Facility in Marsa.

In accordance with EU Directive (EC) 142/2011, the project focuses in investing in new technology which is less dependent on fossil fuels and hence pollutes the environment less. This facility will also reduce dependency on the Marsa Incinerator as well as serve as back-up facility.

Animal By-Product waste has a high percentage of water and very low calorific value which requires substantial amount of fuel to incinerate. Thanks to this facility, the treatment process adopted by our country in the past years will be drastically improved. In fact, from direct incineration the process will move to a rendering process which is then followed by incineration. This process uses the waste heat energy currently generated from the incineration process in the form of steam to heat up the waste and evaporate the water present in it. The solid waste, known as bonemeal, is either incinerated or sent for further treatment at other Wasteserv facilities. Moreover, extracted tallow through the autoclaving process is then used at the incinerator as fuel, thus creating resources from waste.

The amount of animal waste estimated to be treated in the facility is estimated to total 6,000 tonnes a year. Of these, approximately 307 tonnes will originate from Gozo. This system is also designed to process other waste streams considered as hazardous, such as expired foodstuffs containing animal by-products.

Thus, this €12m investment which has been built following Green Procurement Procedures will cut down on odour and pollution, decrease current incineration expenditure and also the emission of greenhouse gases.

Thanks to this investment, Wasteserv will be contributing towards reaching Malta’s commitment to reduce by 5% greenhouse gas emissions and the 10% of the total energy consumption and generation of renewable energy resources.